Solangelo prompts
by hes-beauty-hes-jason-grace
Summary: The title says it all. Rated T just in case
1. Which one hogs the blanket?

**Good news! I'm officially done with tests and term 1, so I'm going to be more active for a while,starting with this fic.**

 **Disclaimer: Solangelo is not mine in any size, shape or form**

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Usually, Nico could deal with Will Solace stealing the blanket. It was happened almost every night, and it was pretty impossible to get it back, so just accepting it was found, however, that just accepting it was not easier, when it was the middle of winter, and it was _snowing_ outside, for the gods' sakes. With any other person, he could have just given it a tug, maybe woken them up, but they could always go back to sleep. But the case with Will Solace was not that simple. He was so hopelessly tangled that a gentle pull would probably land up with him unraveling and rolling over the side of the bed, onto the floor. And besides, he was such a light sleeper that even a slight nudge would've woken him. And for Will Solace there was no such thing as just going back to sleep. No, Will Solace stayed up for hours afterwards and _talked_. If he heard "Hey, Neeks, do you think fish actually know they're fish? Like what if we're all fish and we just don't know it?" in the middle of the night _one more time_. Just getting up and getting a blanket was not an option. Even if he could get out of bed carefully enough, Will's grip on him was far to tight to allow escape. Nico groaned, why did he insist on sharing a blanket with Will, even if he knew he'd have to suffer this. It was not the first time this had happened. It wasn't even the first time this had happened _this week_. He internally cursed himself for his terrible decision-making. He internally cursed Will Solace. His boyfriend's grip wasn't even enough to warm him up properly. He internally cursed New York for being so cold. So cold... He then proceeded to dedicate his next few hours to trying to wriggle out of Will's grip. Every time the other boy stirred, he froze, holding his breath until his boyfriend started snoring again.

* * *

He managed to make two inches. It'd only taken him half an hour's worth of shuffling. Bit on the bright side,(literally) the sun was just just beginning to peek over the horizon. Will usually woke up round about now anyway, so Nico was debating waking him up right about then, when the other one sat and, stretched and yawned.

"You're up early."

No comment.

"Oh, hey, I stole the blanket again. It was really cold last night, why didn't you just wake me?"

Nico had to make a conscious effort not to murder his boyfriend.


	2. Which one uses cheesy pickup lines?

**Disclaimer: surprise, surprise, I don't own PJO**

 **Set in the riordanverse because that was the only other way I could make it work**

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"Hey, Nico, feel my shirt."

He gave him a look, then when back to reading.

"Just do it."

"Fine, if it'll shut you up."

"Aww, come on," he laughed," Do you know what it's made of?"

"Um, cotton?"

"Boyfriend material."

"Oh,sweet Hades."

"Are you religious? Because you're the answer to all my prayers."

"I will summon an army of skeletons, I swear."

"Your shirt definitely has to go, but you can stay."

"Man, I really hope so. I kind of live here," he deadpanned," and I'm keeping the shirt."

"Are you from France because Notre **_Damn."_**

As unperturbed as ever.

"I'm not even going to respond to that."

"Are you a vampire? Because when you looked at me, you seemed a little thirsty."

"Actually, I'm a demigod."

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave, you're making all the other girls look bad."

"What an accomplishment, considering you're gay and everything."

 _Make it stop._

"Was your dad a terrorist? Because you're the bomb."

"He's actually the god of the Underworld. Why don't you go visit him and let me finish this book in peace?"

"If you were a transformer, you'd be a HOT-obot, and your name would be Optimus Fine."

He groaned," that was your worst one yet. And that's saying a lot."

"Were you always this cute, or did you have to work on it?"

"You got me, that's how I passed the time in that titan's jar."

"Hey, baby, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?"

"Actually, I crawled out of Tartarus."

"On a scale from one to ten, you're a ten, and I'm the one you need."

He flipped the page, deciding not to respond.

"Heard you were having a pretty tough time before I came along. You could say I was your only _Solace."_

Great, he was moving on to bad puns. Nico dedicated to go with him, before he started the haikus.

* * *

 **I'll get to the prompts soon, I've just wanted to write this one for a while. In the mean time,please send more! The more inspiration I have, the faster I update this fic.**


	3. Maybe you should

**Okay, I was going to start on those prompts, I swear, but then I saw something on my dash and I HAD TO WRITE IT. Next chapter though, pinkie swear.**

 **Once again, Riordanverse**

 **Disclaimer: literally nobody thinks I own PJO. Nobody**

* * *

Finding the kid was easy enough. It was pretty hard to miss the lone 11 year old standing there amongst the steadily growing vines, when every other sane person had taken off. If that wasn't a neon flashing sign that said 'demigod', then Nico didn't know what was.

"Okay, we've found her. Now, how to get her back to Camp?"

Nico's partner for this quest, that made things a little more difficult. It wasn't that he didn't like Will Solace. In actual fact, the problem was that he maybe liked him a little too much. It was pretty difficult trying to focus on fighting monsters when he had the feeling of thousands of skeletal butterflies were resurrecting in his stomach as a distraction whenever Will did anything. And that happened about as often as monsters popped up in his demigod life; a lot. And what happened at the infirmary didn't exactly make things less awkward. Nico groaned out loud, making Will shoot him a weirded-out look. He flushed. Uh, what were they talking about again?

"You go get her, I'll cover you."

"How-"

He summoned a couple skeletons, and Solace looked like he wanted to object, but didn't.

"It's only two, I can handle this. Go."

Solace went.

This was weird. There should be monsters. In fact, there should have been monsters already. Not that he was complaining about the lack of things trying to kill him, he just had a bad feeling about this. **(A/N: apparently Nico is a Jedi)**

Solace was talking to the kid, probably explaining the whole demigod thing. He couldn't hear what either of them were saying, but by the looks of things, she was not taking it well. He was just about to step in when two monsters decided that now was the time to turn up. Of course. The kid took this as her chance to trap Solace in a bunch of vines and run off. _Merda._ He summoned a few more skeletons, ignoring the toll that took on him, and ran in her direction. Hopefully, those would at least hold off the giant scorpions until he got back. He managed to catch up with her a few minutes later. Now, getting her to actually follow him and Solace back to Camp...

She spun, "look, can you two just- What is that?"

"Duck!"

He threw his Stygian sword straight for the heart. It missed and ricocheted harmlessly off the scorpion's armour.

"Well, that was stupid."

"Shut up."

Great, now he was getting this from an eleven year old.

Now, to get his sword back without getting any more criticism from a kid, or being killed by a huge scorpion. It involved a lot of dodging, rolling, and very close calls, but he managed to reach it. He tried to pull, but it was stuck, great. A few cracks in the ground and.. he got it out.

"Hey, Skeleton Boy!"

" _Skeleton Boy?"_

"Hurry!"

The scorpion was focusing on her now, and was breaking through her vines as fast as she was making them. He took the opportunity while it was distracted, and ducked under the tail end. Avoiding the legs, he worked his way through until he could sink his Stygian Iron into the soft underbelly. It exploded in a cloud of dust. The halfblood kid was looking at him with wide eyes. He was covered in scratches and really starting to feel the effects of using so much of his powers. Solace was going to kill him. Not that he cared.

"Look, I know this whole thing is overwhelming, but I can honestly Camp is the safest place for us. And the sooner we get there and out of the way from more monsters, the better."

He started walking, and she just followed silently.

"Oh, and can you let the blond go? I know he's annoying, but-"

"Hey, I heard that!"

"It would have been wasted if you hadn't."

He was dropped very gracefully to the ground, face first, as the vines unwound around him. She snickered. Well, that whole shocked silence thing lasted a while.

"You're a demigod too, right? Can you all summon skeletons? Can I summon skeletons?"

"No, that's just him. And he is not going to do it again," Solace stepped in.

Nico shot him a glare.

"Oh. Who's your godly parent? Who's mine?"

"Hades. And yours is probably someone like Demeter or Persephone."

"Like the gloomy god of dead people guy? Does that mean you can resurrect people? That would be so cool!"

"No, if someone dies, they need to stay dead. Not even Hades himself messes with the balance."

"What about ghosts?"

Apparently, she'd made a complete rebound. She gave rapidfire questions the entire journey, and Nico a headache. And Will started up with his lectures about overusing his powers. This was going to be a long walk back to Camp.

* * *

"Hey, Nico, what're you doing here?"

Oh, great, Percy. They hadn't spoken since his 'Oh, I'm gay, and you're cute, but you're not my type' speech. He was not looking forward to the awkwardness. Especially after he had to hear Percy ranting to Annabeth for the next two days.

"What does he mean I'm not his type."

"Percy, why does it matter, you're dating me."

"But how am I not his type?"

"Percy-"

"What is his type?"

He grinned like he knew exactly what Nico was thinking about.

"That was a serious blow to my ego, man."

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I'm actually hiding from the Demeter kid."

The questions had not stopped when they got back to Camp. On the contrary, they'd gotten worse.

"Is that girl Annabeth your girlfriend?"

It took him a couple of years to come out to Percy, but this kid had worn down his patience to a point that he would have applauded, if he hadn't been extremely annoyed.

"Actually, I don't like girls. I'm gay. So, no, she is not my girlfriend. Neither is Reyna, or Piper, and Hazel is my _sister_."

"Oh. Is that blond Apollo boy your boyfriend?"

 _No, but I wouldn't complain,_ his brain provided helpfully. He told his brain to shut up.

"Oh, her. Hey, Nico? I think you should work on being friends with her, no matter how much she gets on your nerves. Or you're going to regret it later."

He looked pointedly at Nico, then walked off. He took the Hades figure that he still kept out of his aviator pocket, and spun it around in his fingers.

* * *

 **I know, I know, I haven't written in like a month, and this isn't technically a Solangelo Prompt, but I really liked this idea, and I wanted to write it. But my procrastinating days are over,(for now) and I'll work on those prompts next update, I swear. In the mean time, please send me more prompts! The more inspiration I have, the less repeats of my semi-hiatus there's going to be.**


	4. In which kisses and baking don't mix

**This fic was brought to you by Favorite Record on repeat. Am I the only one who just really loves that song? Yes? Okay.**

 **That's right, I finally got to** **KoalaLover-ABC-123's request, and** **Guest's request for a more romanc-y (that's totally a word,shhh) chapter. Thankfully, my brain finally decided to stop being distracted and give you this.**

* * *

Nico wasn't sure why or how they started baking. He was pretty sure he couldn't remember what, either. All he knew was that they were halfway through, and the flour packet was completely empty. It had been used for baking... well, a little. The rest was from Will deciding it was a good idea to flick flour at him, and to chanllenge him by not expecting him to dump half the packet over his head. Needless to say, that pretty much triggered a full scale flour war. And later, Solace claiming that he was so pale, he couldn't even see the flour on him.

He glared," Well sorry I don't like my skin a healthy shade of skin cancer."

"Nico, you can't argue with a med student about how bad lack of sunshine is for you."

"I can try."

"Well, you're making a valiant effort, but you're not winning."

He flicked sugar in the general direction of the blond.

"Fine, then, argue your point."

"I-" he opened his mouth, then closed it. Then very smoothly settled for flushing red,"shut up."

Solace snorted. It was kind of adorable, but that's not the point.

"You're distracting me on purpose."

He fluttered his eyelashes ridiculously," I have no idea what you mean."

"Sgobbone," he said under his breath.

"What, does that mean, 'you're amazing, Will'?"

"Now why would I do that? The last thing your ego needs is inflation."

"Pssh, I'm so humble, it's one of my many, many good qualities."

Nico just snorted and walked over to open the oven to check on whatever it was they were baking. Will swatted his hand away.

"There's no way it's done yet. So, if my ego doesn't need inflating, you had to compliment me in Italian?"

"No," he flushed," it basically means 'dork'."

He tried to use checking the oven again as a means of escape, but Will slapped his hand away again.

"Awww, Death Boy. Well, seeing as you're so free with compliments,I know a great way to pass the time," the blond wiggled his eyebrows.

Nico rolled his eyes practically back into his skull. But the effect was ruined by him blushing more furiously than he had or ever would in his life. (Probably even in his afterlife)

It was Will's turn to flush furiously.

"No, no no, not like that!"

There was a stretch of awkward silence while Nico tried, and unfortunately failed, to melt into the kitchen floor.

He managed to actually open the oven door. What ever it was, it was still definitely uncooked. Or maybe it was meant to look like that? He took out a fork and scooped out some of the batter. Solace snapped back into action and glared.

"Death Boy, how many times have I told you that you're going to get salmonella?"

"Maybe about fifty times. And that's just today."

"You were trying to eat the uncooked batter."

He shrugged," salmonella just tastes too good."

Nico sighed and tapped his foot impatiently. Whatever it was was taking far too long to bake.

"I know a way to-" he scrunched up his face, trying to phrase it in a way that didn't sound dodgy.

He decided to put Will out of his misery.

"Don't think too hard, your brain isn't used to being used, especially not that much."

"Hey!"

He had to go up on his toes. Will snickered.

"It's not my fault you're far too tall," he glowered.

"Admit it, Death Boy, you're short. What are you, like, 5'2?"

"Actually, I'm 5'4."

Solace held up his hands in a very facetious defeat. He sighed, and stretched up again, circling Will's neck and touching their lips together. What? He he'd had to do it before Will got so annoying he lost the urge. Not that that had ever happened, annoying as he got.

* * *

Apparently, they ended up passing too much time. The smoke set off the smoke alarm, and although there wasn't too much damage, the fire department came in. If they weren't already annoyed by that little fact, the dude in uniform himself looked disapprovingly at the traces of flour on Will's black wrist band and Nico's black everything.

"You're lucky nothing too bad happened," he said _lucky_ like he really wished his call hadn't been a waste of time, and that misfortune had fallen upon them.

"You know, flour is **extremely** flammable. On a gun powder level," he continued,"by all rights, it should have been much worse."

He gestured to all the flour spilled over the floor, counters, some had even ended up on the ceiling.

"I, uh- whoops," was all Will provided.

* * *

 **Well, Guest, hope that was romantic enough for you. It's definitely more romantic than I usually write. If not, I have plans for the next chapter that would definitely fall under that category.**

 **KoalaLover-ABC-123, I really wracked my brains, but I couldn't come up with a chapter for that prompt, sorry. I figured I would at least answer it though. I'm convinced that Will would rather kisses and Nico would rather hugs. He'd make up some excuse like "I am the Ghost King and the Prince of the Underworld, I do not like hugs", though. But** **Will and probably Jason know the truth.**

 **Thank you for the prompts! Please send more, the more inspired I am, the faster this fic updates.**


	5. The one with the guitar

**I wasn't going to write today, (one word: Deadpool) but then my sister, , chose that moment to start playing guitar, which gave me an idea. So you have her to thank for whatever this is.  
**

 **Set in the Riordanverse, which disclaimer, is not mine.**

 **Pre-Solangelo**

* * *

Apparently, Solace thought that the swordfighting arena was a great place for playing guitar. Good acoustics? Was that even a thing? Nico wasn't sure, so he decided to keep his mouth (brain?) shut. Didn't Gandalf say something about wise people knowing to keep their mouth shut when talking about something they didn't know? Was-

 _Focus._ That was a luxury mortals without ADHD had. Something Nico usually tried, and mostly succeeded in having. That was, apparently, unless Solace happened to be-

Jason almost landed the blow with his _Gladius_ , snapping Nico back to attention. He swung up his Stygian Iron at the last moment, putting all of his effort into pushing Jason's weapon back. It didn't help that Grace had the height advantage, but Nico's pride (especially since it involved his height, or lack thereof, was involved) kept him from admitting defeat so easily. Well, as long as he stacked up enough hubris to make up for all the extra feet difference between him and, well, everyone else. And-

Annnd, he'd gotten himself distracted again. Jason applied the extra force, and Nico was forced to drop his sword. The other boy pointed his at Nico's chest, right over the heart. But Jason being Jason, he didn't look too gloaty, (Was that even a word?) he simply lowered his _Gladius_.

Nico looked up, " Can we do it one more time?"  
"Sorry, Neeks," Nico was probably just as surprised as anyone else would be when he didn't protest to being called that, "I would, but I promised Piper I'd meet her by the lake in ten minutes. Besides, you're distracted, I think you should deal with the source, don't you?"

He 'discreetly' pointed over to Will Solace,who was still there, the guitar in use. Solace looked up and waved enthusiastically, which, of course, made the skeletal butterflies work in overdrive.

It struck him how much things had changed over the war with Gaea. If somone had told his past self that in one year from then, things would be really looking up; that he'd actually enjoy being at Camp Half-Blood, that he spent more time sparring and talking with, actually enjoying the presence of other, living, breathing demigods, that he hadn't wasted any more time with ghosts since he'd gotten back from his quest with Reyna and Coach Hedge... At most, he would have laughed in their face, and at least, he wouldn't have believed them for a second. Stubborn and annoying as he was, Solace had a point. And he owed at least a small portion of all of this to the blond, for finally getting through his thick skull that it wasn't so bad here, people didn't hate him as much as he thought they did. In fact, quite the opposite. Nico wasn't really one to acknowledge it when he was wrong, but he had to admit, Will had been quite right. And maybe, yes, he himself had been... less right.

"Nico?"

He startled back, hand automatically reaching for his sword hilt. He quickly moved it to hook his fingers into one of the belt loops in his jeans, next to where his Stygain Iron was sheathed, like that was fooling anyone. But at least Will's concerned doctor expression diluted a little.

"You play?" he gestured to the instrument on Will's lap.

He could've slapped himself.

 _Really Nico, 'You play?'.Of course you went for asking the immediately obvious_ , he mentally chided. But it was the first thing he could think of.

"Yeah. Not sure if I'm any good, but I play anyway," he gave a lopsised grin.

Nico stared like an idiot for what felt like far too long, before he looked away, flushing. Thank the universal forces, Will was looking down at the guitar, plucking out a few chords, and not at the red Italian.

Now that said Italian Venetian was much closer, he could actually hear what Solace was playing. Some Indie-sounding song. And another. Nico was reaching his limit when he started on a country song. Yes, he was way too attractive for his (or anyone else's) own good, but whether he was worth sitting through a country song for was questionable. In fact, he spent so much time playing mental ping pong about that very subject, that the end of said song came before a descision did. Nico didn't think he could take it anymore. He stretched out an expecting hand to Will, which probably wasn't the mos polite thing in the world. But hey, if his people skills had been non-existent for all fourteen years of his life, he could hardly expect them to magically appear just because Will Solace happened to be in his immediate area. Solace probably had more than enough people skills for the two of them, anyway. He took the hint and handed over the instrument, exchanged from a pair of perfectly tanned hands to, well, a leaning-more-to-the-unhealthy-pale-side pair of hands.

"You play?" Will repeated his opener.

Way to rub it in, Solace.

"No idea, actually."

"Well, you know, you sort of need the chords in order to play, anways," Will grinned.

Nico looked down, allowing his bangs to cover his significantly more pink face, "Oh...right."

He took the guitar back.

"Please don't tell me you're going to start another 'I pick up chicks with my tractor and defend the exsistence of the confederate flag' song."

"Not a fan of country? Well, what do you suggest?"

"Uhhh, is Panic! At The Disco a music genre?"

"No, it is not. So I happen to play guitar, and you don't. That's very convenient, actually," he shaped his fingers on the bridge," this is a minor."

They sat out there for what must have been an hour, and Nico decided that maybe country wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

 ***Bordering-on 16 year old snickers about "In all his fourteen years" like there's much difference.***

 **Disclaimer: I have nothing against country, Brown Bird is a good band, and I in no way involve myself in US debates about the confederate flag, Nico just seemed to be pretty against that type of thing in BOO, so I included that.  
**

 **I don't know why I pinned Nico down as more of a P!ATD person, he just seems more Let's Kill Tonight than Sugar We're Going Down to me.**

 **And, as always, please send me prompts in the reviews.**


	6. Happy Fourth of July!

****This chapter is now proofread thanks to HashtagMc.****

* * *

 ** **I know, I know, it's been forever. But exams are officially over in all of SA, so I'm here now! And it's the 4th, so I just couldn't resist**** ** **…****

 ** **Happy freedom day to all of you up in the US!****

 ** **Disclaimer: If PJO was mine, a book that's entirely Solangelo-central would already be a thing (sadly, I don't)****

* * *

A lot of things had changed since the end of the war with Gaea. For one thing, and the most relevant of them all at the time, was that this year the seven (and Nico) had made it to the Camp Half-Blood annual Fourth of July party. Apparently, the sentiment was shared because Percy announced his arrival with a,

"Man, a TV screen on the Argo II in no way matches up to the real thing."

Everyone else in the circle chimed in with their murmurs of agreement, except Leo.

"That's no way to thank Festus! Next time, you can all go on one of the Roman ships."

That was another thing – this time, not only all of the Greeks, but also all of the Romans, had gathered together to celebrate. Nico had to say, this year's celebration was already shaping up to better than all of the previous ones combined. Not that he'd ever been to one before.

"Sure," Reyna said, corners of her lips turning upwards, "and I'll be sure to take them to the real thing as well, not just show them what they're missing out on."

"Hey, we were right in the middle of a quest to stop the greatest enemy of the gods from rising. If anyone could've come back to celebrate an epic Fourth of July at a time like that, it'd be the one and only Supersized McShizzle over here. I mean, I came back from _death_."

"Please don't remind us. I really don't want to have to get up and punch you again."

"If anyone could do it," Reyna corrected, "it would be the Romans. You _Graec_ _i_ are so unorganised."

Nico snorted, "I'm sorry, _Praetor,_ was it two Romans who were the reason you managed to escort the statue back to Camp?"

"It was a satyr, actually. You were unconscious for most of the trip."

Percy gasped and put an arm around Nico like he was shielding him or something.

"Don't talk like that to my baby bro – you'll crush his spirit. He's at the age where he needs to know that trying his best is what counts."

"Jackson I'm only, like, two years younger than –"

"Your baby bro? Excuse you Percy, he's my baby bro."

"Grace, I was his older bro from the beginning."

"Yes, Jackson, and you let him leave Camp and wander off on his own."

"You wanna go, Grace? I'll take you on right now."

"Riiiiiiiight,"Nico decided it would be a good idea to leave the circle before he got any more disturbed.

He stood up as Annabeth sent him an apologetic roll of the eyes on behalf of her boyfriend.

Speaking of which, now was as good a time as any to find Solace. He had to be around somewhere…

They both spotted each other at the same time, and Solace grinned, waving him over.

"You know, I think this is the first time I've ever seen you at one of these."

"Yeah, well, you know; sword-fighting with ghosts, almost dying of asphyxiation, stopping the ground itself from rising against us and killing us all – I've been pretty busy."

He snorted, "Well there's no need to brag about it."

Nico actually smiled a little. Will must've noticed because he took on that annoying 'I'm your significant other and you're being so cute right now' look or whatever you want to call it.

It widened into a big, dorky grin, like he'd just accomplished something amazing. Actually, considering the fact that Nico could count the amount of times he'd smiled on one hand…

He then proceeded to lean down to kiss him on the nose.

It took a while for Nico to regain himself enough to go down a few shades, and almost back to his normal skin tone (Will looked far too pleased with himself for that). But as soon as he had, he very subtly opted for changing the subject.

"So you've managed to make it to the big event every single time?"

"Well yeah, I'm one of those 'all-year-round' campers – until school starts, that is."

"Wait, you've never been on a quest?"

"Unless you count 'Hey Will, some demigod a couple of yards away from camp tripped, please go escort them back' as a quest then no."

"Well, unless you count 'I blame you for getting my sister killed, I'm going to leave camp in favour of sword fighting with ghosts' as a quest, then I've only been on one."

"I've got to give you credit, Death Boy, you may be an idiot now, but you were an even bigger idiot before."

"Thank you I guess?"

"You're welcome. But I take all of the credit, I did most of the work."

"You're so annoying, you're lucky you're cute."

"Why, thank you." (That sounded adorable in Will's Southern accent, in case you were wondering)

Nico looked in the general direction of his friends a couple of feet away and sighed, "I think they're waving us over."

* * *

"It's Will Solace, right? As in, from the Battle of Manhattan? Weren't you the one who healed Annabeth after she got a poisoned dagger to the arm?"

"Yeah, that took some work. I'm surprised you remembered, actually."

"How could I forget?"

Percy gave Nico a very approving nod. Leo was about to say something, but Annabeth spoke up before he could.

"Hey, they should be starting the firework display soon. We should probably go grab a couple before the Stolls get all of them."

He could have sworn she sent him a look, like she'd cut Leo off on purpose. He gave her a thankful half-grin – which she returned.

* * *

Half an hour later, after they'd launched all the fireworks they'd managed to get a hold of, they were all sitting on the hill by the lake (minus Leo, who was still in the background, laughing like a maniac while he set them on fire with his fingers) and watching the colours burst in the night sky like a few drops of paint dropped onto a black canvas – if paint droplets made the occasional whistle and ear-splitting bang.

"Hey Neeks? You know, with you and Solace here, we never did give you the Camp Half-Blood initiation ceremony."

"Don't you dare, Jackson."

But Percy had already picked him up and slung him over his back, Jason and another demigod (where in the sweet name of Zeus himself had he come from? Nico could've sworn he hadn't been there a second ago) carrying Will shortly behind him. They then very politely dumped the two of them in the lake. Nico was both soaked and annoyed.

"Permission to use my underworld-y powers?"

Will looked over very approvingly.

"Permission granted. Although, we should probably oblige them this."

He snickered and added, "Death Boy, are you seriously almost chin deep? This is the shallow part."

Nico glowered," You know what, I'm not kissing you, just for that."

"Psssh, yes you are."

"Fine. But we're moving back so I can actually stand first."

"There, happy?"

Nico pulled him down and there were more than a few wolf whistles and cheers from the other campers. A certain very polite hand gesture came to mind, but he moved the other hand to Solace's neck instead.

They may or may not have gotten a bit too into it, because Solace ended up losing his footing and dragged Nico down with him.

Solace snorted at his completely soaked – well, everything. Nico very maturely splashed him.

"As much as you enjoyed getting thrown into the lake, aren't you forgetting something?" he motioned with his chin over to where Jackson and the others were standing.

"Oh, right." Nico snapped his fingers and a couple of skeletons emerged from the ground to drag the Seven (including Leo, because hey, he'd made Nico think he was dead for a while, he deserved it) into the lake.

Despite the occasional complaints and how cold the water was, being surrounded by his friends and significant other, (or significant annoyance in Solace's case) the bang of fireworks above, Nico could definitely have thought of worse ways to end an evening.


	7. The Truth Curse

**Hello again, Solangelo. It's been a while.**

 **Disclaimer: I can barely write 2000 words, let alone 3 long book series**

* * *

He headed off in the direction of his cabin. After a thrilling game of Capture the flag, Nico had stayed behind to talk to a younger camper. He'd changed so much since the end of the war with Gaea that sometimes he even surprised himself. After several minutes of walking, the trees began to thin, and he could hear the muffled sound of raised voices. As he broke through the last layer of foliage, he was able to make out what they were saying.

"You did it, Stoll, I know it was you!"

"I didn't! I swear!"

He recognised the distant figures of Lou Ellen and one of the Stoll brothers, standing across the clearing. He was too far away for Nico to do anything more than speculate which one it might be.

"I thought you'd changed since your brother left for college, but apparently you've gone straight back to your old ways."

"Lou, it wasn't me. I swear."

Nico, sensing trouble, reflexively coiled one hand tightly around the hilt of his sword. He took a few stealthy steps forward, ready to intervene should the need arise. This could get ugly, fast.

He could see them clearly now as he stood back to watch from a discreet distance. No matter how much he'd changed, he still wasn't one to get tangled up in someone else's business unless he had to.

"If you refuse to tell the truth of your own accord, then maybe I can make you!"

She muttered something under her breath, too low for Nico to hear. Although, he had a sneaky feeling that it was some kind of incantation. It all happened at once.

He ran forward, intent on stopping her before she could get to the end.

Then the sudden rush of air as something, or someone, sped past him. He could almost swear that he'd heard a sound like mischievous laughter.

A flash of green light, speeding towards him. He just stood there; a deer in the headlights- frozen.

Eyes wide with shock and the grim certainty that this could not end well.

A split second of Lou's horror-struck face, pale with the knowledge of what she'd just done.

Vision filled of nothing but glaring brightness.

Dark.

Nothing.

Then white, blinding white everywhere.

Nothing.

White.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Black.

Someone was shaking his arm. Nico groaned and rolled over, swatting whatever it was with one hand lazily. The shaking continued.

"Sleep," he moaned.

"Nico."

"Ughhhhh."

"Nico."

He knew that voice from somewhere. Groggily, the gears in his mind began to turn as he lay there, trying to work it out and go back to sleep at the same time.

Wait. He did know that voice.

His mind clicked with recognition, and he sat bolt upright. The regret came instantly after.

"Woah, headrush."

A concerned hand was placed on his shoulder, steadying him, "Careful."

"Solace? What are you doing here?"

He laughed lightly and sat down on the edge of Nico's bed, "I think I should be asking you that question."

Nico looked around at the familiar whiteness. White walls, white sheets, white tiled floor. Will interpreted his look and nodded.

"You're back in the infirmary again. You know, when I discharged you, I didn't expect you to back so soon. I thought I'd at least had a few weeks. Did you miss me that much?"

"Can you stop?" Nico winced. "You're making me uncomfortable."

The words came unbidden to his lips.

He clamped a hand over his mouth, "I didn't mean to say that."

Will gave him a look, then stood to pick up the clipboard from the desk next to the bed.

"Actually, that's to be expected. You got hit with a truth curse."

"And here I was, thinking I was done with all of this mythology shit," he cringed, then frowned. He couldn't stop the sentence from spilling out of his mouth.

Will just smiled.

"Yeah, hilarious, isn't it?" Nico groaned. "How long is this going to last?"

Infuriatingly, Will's smile only got wider. "We aren't sure yet. I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

"I bet you're just loving this. Ugh, this whole verbal diarrhea thing is getting old fast."

Will grinned, "Actually, I think I prefer you this way. You definitely talk more, for starters."

"Can you not with the flirting right now?" Nico awkwardly cleared his throat, then took a deep breath before continuing. "So, um, what happened?"

"I didn't quite catch the whole story- Lou Ellen was pretty hysterical when she dragged you in here. Apparently you got in the middle of a fight between her and Connor Stoll. She'd meant to hit him with a truth curse, but he dodged and it hit you instead. It had gathered a bit of momentum by that point, and it knocked you over. You hit your head."

"That explains the gods-awful headache."

Will smiled once again. He seemed to be doing that a lot, "Well, the light concussion, plus the fact that being hit by a curse definitely does a number on you. You finished half our supply of ambrosia, and been unconscious for about a day. Oh, and you have a gash on your arm. Not sure how that happened. Like I said, didn't get the whole story."

Nico inspected it, then shrugged, "I've had worse."

Will snorted almost violently,"Okay, tough guy. ' 'Tis but a flesh wound', I get you."

Yeah, he wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"I have no idea how to respond to that."

But Will already turned away, busying himself with Nico's blood pressure and other doctor-y things. He was well familiar with the way that he went into auto-pilot, heedless of anything that wasn't medical. It didn't bother him- quite the opposite- and maybe that was why Will was such a good healer.

One absent, half grin (seriously what was with that?) told Nico he'd some version of that that out loud.

"Ugh, it's like there's a leak in my head."

His gaze flitted around the bland white room, absently looking for any splash of colour (and anything to distract him)other than white of the walls, the deep brown of the ceiling beams, or the baby blue of the bed sheets. Finally, it settled on the window, or rather, what was happening outside the window. Like always, it was bright and sunny. A couple of campers were lazing around on the grass outside and talking amongst themselves. He latched his focus onto that, trying to ignore the running commentary that slipped like water through the cracks between his lips. Halfway across the field, one camper, likely from the Aphrodite cabin, was very clearly flirting with one of the water nymphs. It went back and forth with interest (the camper) and disgust (the nymph) until finally, he ended up rejected and completely soaked, with the nymph nowhere in sight.

He was brought back (once again) by a hand on his shoulder, and the talking cut short in surprise.

"Can you just, ya'know, carry on doing that. Startling me. Maybe if you give me a heart attack the curse will be stop."

"I just want to do some blood tests," Will said almost apologetically

."Yeah, yeah, I know the drill," he said as he stuck out his arm," I think you've taken about half my body weight of blood by now.

I'm just going to go ahead and stare out the window again."

Hey, the grounds are pretty empty right now. Do you think they're doing something? Like a camp activity or something. Anyways, it's really nice. Quiet. Well, aside from me. In a picturesque, green, grass and blue skies way. Like a postcard, almost."

The slight breeze ruffled through the trees and the muted sound of bird calls echoed back to him. He was so at peace for those few moments that he barely noticed the dull pain of the needle stick into his skin.

Before he knew it, Solace stopped, almost abruptly so, and clapped his hands his hands against his shorts.

"Seriously, you've gotta stop doing that."

"Oh, sorry. All right, I think I'm about done. We'll keep you in for a couple more hours for observation and then you can go back. Let's see... ," he ran a finger down his clipboard, "I should be on my last shift right about then."

"Oh please no," he said and then winced, "That came out wrong."

Will shrugged it off. As he was almost halfway out the door, he stopped and turned,"Oh, hey, try to get some rest. It'll help, trust me."

He gave Nico an easy smile and then headed off.

"Oh gods he's adorable," Nico said, way too loudly.

The Apollo camper pretended not to hear, but by the way Solace's ears turned red, he most definitely had.

"I'm guessing you heard that."

Nico sighed. Only five hours or so left to go.

He decided to take Will's advice. He shifted under the covers and closed his eyes, "At least I don't talk in my sleep."

When he woke up again, his headache was even worse. He hadn't thought it possible, but here he was, feeling every sound like it was drilling into his skull. His head was pounding and even though it was dark out the infirmary lights and white walls hurt his eyes. Thinking hurt, everything hurt.

Will stood up from the chair next to Nico's bed -Probably waiting for him to wake up- and handed him a glass.

"Yeah, that's a pretty standard after a concussion. Here, drink this. It should help."

Nico propped himself up on one elbow and wrapped his fingers around the glass gratefully, his throat felt like a desert, and the surface felt cool in his hands, even as the top of the liquid appeared to be steaming. He took a sip, cautious not to spill even a drop. Almost instantly, it filled his body with golden warmth. It tasted like Christmas, like the torrone his mom used to make; wonderful. He remembered the way he and Bianca pestered his mom all day, 'Is it ready yet?'. Until finally, she set the dish on the table and gave them the first two pieces, like always: 'And no more until dessert'.

After about half the glass, he was already feeling better, if a bit fuzzy.

Will looked up at him, face shining with cordiality,"You know, I kind of feel like I'm eavesdropping. Because you're not saying any of this, it's just slipping out."

"I kind of hate it."

"Well," he ventured, "For me, it tastes like kind of like Texas, back when I was a kid- the nectar, I mean- If that makes any sense."

"It does."

They shared a silent moment.

"You're so... considerate. And you're nice, but you have a personality. Like, you're nice but you're stubborn and strong. That's why I've had the biggest crush on you since that whole Gaea thing."

"Aah, um...I see."

Nico's face immediately turned red, but somehow not as red as Will's.

"Of course, you don't feel the same way. Why would you? Ugh, where is the sea when you need to return to it?"

"Maybe we should talk about this when you aren't spewing out everything you think?" Will suggested.

"Yeah, I'm going to awkwardly agree and just avoid you, hopefully for the rest of my life. Actually, if you could just forget that I said anything, that would be great. I'll leave now."

He got off the bed and hurried off before he could say anything more. His headache beat against his frontal lobe with every step, punishing him further.

"Damnit, Lou Ellen! Why would you even know that curse? Ugh, I've learned my lesson; never talk to people ever again."

He'd gotten about halfway when he heard pounding footsteps down the hall not far behind him. Nico tried to pick up the pace a little. Unfortunately, after sleeping for the better part of a day, his legs felt about as solid as noodles and the pain that ricocheted around his skull certainly didn't help matters.

By the time Will caught up with him, he'd already accepted his fate. Solace stopped in the doorway, arms crossed.

"You know, you're doing a spectacular impression of a parent who's just caught their kid sneaking out to a party right now."

The corner of his mouth quirked up, even if it was just a little, and Nico wondered (aloud, of course. Because the Fates had apparently decided that he hadn't suffered enough)if the curse may not be all that bad after all.

"I know you just said something you didn't mean to say, and you regret it and everything, but you can't just run away from all your problems."

"I can and I will... I meant that as a joke. Or thought that as a joke. Ugh, this is confusing."

Will sighed, "You had the sense not to shadow travel, at least.

But still. I still hadn't discharged you yet, that was stupid of you. Really stupid, and irresponsible."

"Wait, what? Are you actually serious right now?"

"Of course I'm serious. It's procedure. Believe it it not, there's actually a reason for final check-ups. To, you know, check-up on things. Make you're it's safe to discharge you and that you're not going to burst into flames the minute you get back to your cabin. This curse sucks, I get it. But I think your health is a little bit more important."

"Yeah, well, I'm healthy enough to argue, so will you please just let me go back to my cabin so I can bask in my humiliation in peace?"

"Trust me, you're always healthy enough to argue. And I'm speaking from experience here," he gave a long sigh, as if gathering enough strength to say the next sentence, " and... I feel the same way. But I want you to say it because you meant to, not because of some curse. You can go back to your cabin now."

He walked away, leaving Nico to stand there, dumbfounded, as he processed what he'd just heard.

Two weeks later

"Hey Lou," Connor started, "I heard di Angelo and Solace got together. Apparently something happened while he was in the infirmary after accidentally getting hit by your truth curse."

She smiled widely, "Yeah, he was definitely in the right place at the right time."

"It happened so perfectly, you'd almost say it was planned."


End file.
